A Real Vegetarian Dish

This dish has become a fast favorite of mine for many reasons. The first, obviously, is that it tastes great. I love stir-fry dishes but usually never eat them because they either contain soy sauce, sugar or in most cases both. This paticular recipe calls for hoisin sauce which contains, you guessed it, sugar (and vinegar). So what I did was I made a peanut sauce to subtitute the hoisin. Yummy! It was fantastic! It's a little more work but if you make it ahead of time, then your fine. I use any extra peanut sauce for salads and rice dishes. I like to make this dish as a main course because it is a little too time consuming for me to just be a side dish. I added a whole other 8 ounces of extra firm tofu in the mix (or you can just keep it on the side for extra protein) and serve it over brown rice.

Green-Packed Stir Fry with Fresh Herbs

Sesame oil
8 ounces extra-firm tofu, cut into slices 1 inch long and as thick as a pencil
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 green onion, chopped
1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
3 small red chiles, chopped
1/2 bunch thin asparagus (about 1/2 pound), trimmed and cut diagonally into 1-inch slices
1 generous handful of cashews or peanuts, coarsely chopped
4 generous handfuls of spinach leaves, stemmed
Grated zest and juice of 1 organic lime
2 tablespoons of peanut sauce (see * below for ingredients)
1 small handful fresh basil, slivered
1 small handful fresh mint, slivered
Fine-grain sea salt

When you have all of your ingredients prepped, arrange them within arm's reach of the stove. Heat a small splash of sesame oil in a wok or large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add tofu and cook for a couple of minutes, unitl the tofu is golden. Remove from the pan. (You can also cook the tofu in a dry nonstick or well seasoned pan.)

Add another splash of oil to te wok and, as soon as it's hot, add the garlic, green onions, ginger, chiles, and asparagus. Stir for 1 to 2 minutes, then add the nuts and spinach and stir for another minute, or unitl the spinach wilts and collapses. Return the tofu to the pan. Stir in the lime zest and juice and the peanut sauce. Cook for another minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from the heat and stir in the mint and basil. Season with enough salt to make the flavors pop, starting with a few generous pinches. This Serves 2 (generously) as a main dish, 4 as a side. Enjoy!

*Peanut Sauce

1/3 cup natural smooth peanut butter
1 tsp. garlic powder
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons Bragg's Liquid Aminos
1/4 cup of canned unsweetened coconut milk
3 tablespoons of water

Smooth everything together in a small saucepan and heat thoroughly on low heat.

Detoxing is NOT for Wimps

It's been a while since I've blogged. A year and a half to be exact. Shortly after my last blog I completed my detox. What detox you may ask? Well, it was a crazy 2 1/2 months of ridding my body of all the impurities and toxins that have built up over the past 15 years of my life. A life of eating pretty much nothing but bean and cheese red burritos with secret sauce and sausage biscuits with cheese. Not to mention daily alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, and hazy drug filled weekends. My lifestyle caught up with me and my body said no more. I listened to what my body was saying and decided that it was time to return it to it's natural state. After weeks of researching I came across a website, http://www.candidafacts.com/ . The website scared the shit out of me, to say the least! I prepared myself, family and pantry for this little venture we'd be on. The first two weeks were the worst. Nightmares. Insomnia. I was literally scared to fall asleep. That was the worst of it and as time went on things got better. I had a clearer head and my ailments soon disappeared. I was happy and empowered. I lost a total of 25 pounds and was down to 115 pds. For obvious reasons I stopped there.


Today I still live and eat by the principles of that diet and I have maintained my weight by eating the foods and drinks I want when I'm on vacation or at a special occasion and by following the diet closely the rest of the time. To break it down, it's basically a yeast free, sugar free, fermented free, caffeine free, gluten free (most of the time) and additive free diet. Fresh, whole, natural foods. Food has seriously never tasted so good! I follow a less restricted diet now that includes potatoes, whole grain flours, yeast-free tortillas and corn. I was off the wagon for the summer but now I'm back on thanks to Brian. He swore off drinking for a month and is on his 16th day. Im so proud of him, he inspires me everyday! So I thought this would be a perfect time to strengthen the good ol' immune system right around flu season.